


Foundlings: Future

by ladydragon76



Series: Foundlings [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Mention of past 'child' prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 09:32:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6900526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydragon76/pseuds/ladydragon76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> The trine leave the Decepticons in the hopes of reuniting with their sparklings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foundlings: Future

**Author's Note:**

> **‘Verse:** G1  
>  **Series:** Foundlings  
>  **Rating:** R  
>  **Characters:** Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp, Sideswipe/Sunstreaker  
>  **Warnings:** Mention of past 'child' prostitution,  
>  **Notes:** If you haven’t, you really might want to read [Foundlings](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1744361/chapters/3724877). At the very least [Chapter 27 of Foundlings](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1744361/chapters/11348446) because this fic launches directly from that ficbit.

Starscream landed first, Thundercracker and Skywarp touching down behind either wing only an instant later. Skywarp stumbled a little, but Starscream ignored how graceless his trinemate's landing had been. He could admit he was afraid as well, and on top of that, Skywarp was buried deep in mourning and guilt and worry. But they couldn't just stand there. They had made the choice, packed their belongings, and then, instead of alerting anyone, Skywarp had simply teleported them out of the _Victory_. They had flown carefully until they reached Autobot territory, then Starscream had deliberately taken them to an altitude and speed that was sure to get Teletraan's attention.

With the _Ark_ only a short walk down a wide-open road ahead of them, Starscream cycled his vents, flicked his wings back and into a slightly lowered and submissive position, then started forward. Night sounds surrounded them. Crickets in the long grasses, the wind in the trees, a distant owl. It wasn't so late yet that the majority of the Autobots would be in recharge, which meant they were facing a full army, alert and ready. That was nerve-wracking, but Starscream removed his nullrays nonetheless, battle protocols screaming as he did so. There were soft clicks as Thundercracker and Skywarp removed their weaponry too. Barrels clutched in one hand, Starscream reached into his subspace and pulled out a blaster. That was also transferred to his other hand and held by the barrel end.

A glance up at the entrance to the Autobot base, and Starscream halted. "Here's good," he said softly, then laid his weapons on the ground. He had more in his subspace and it was all laid out. Then, he went one step further and disengaged the magnets holding the energon blade under a side panel in his thigh.

"Starscream?" Thundercracker asked, his voice low and definitely afraid.

"All of it. Every last weapon we carry. Lay it down." Starscream finished and stepped back, watching as his trinemates obeyed. Pits, he hadn't known that Thundercracker still carried a laser sword. Did that thing even still function?

Those thoughts were dismissed, however, as the Autobots rushed out to meet them. And it was absolutely the whole army. Starscream cycled his vents once again, then took two more, very deliberate, steps backward, slowly raised his hands to his helm, laced his fingers together, and knelt. Skywarp and Thundercracker followed his example, the former giving a thin whimper.

Starscream waited until Optimus Prime was close enough that he wouldn't need to shout and said, "Asylum."

On any other day Starscream would have found the shock in so many blue optics hilarious.

"Asylum?" Prime repeated, disbelief rich in his tone, though his optics dropped to the weapons between them.

"Or defection. Whichever," Starscream replied.

"Pitslag!" Ironhide snapped. He still sported scrapes and fresh welds from the earlier battle, but it was no surprise to see him there.

There was a wash of a scan, and to Starscream's left, Skywarp flinched.

"Not detectin' any bombs," Jazz offered.

"All our weapons are there," Starscream said with a nod to the neat row of firearms and close quarters blades. "And it's not Pitslag," he added mildly with a glance toward Ironhide. "We've left the Decepticons. Not to be Autobots, but we're done."

"You," Red Alert growled as he stepped forward, optics narrow and over-bright, "are a liar and trickster." He stood, fists clenched by his sides and said, "No."

"It's not your choice," Starscream replied without any heat and shifted his gaze to Prime. "We have left the Decepticons. Turn us away if you like, but we won't be going back there."

"Frag that," a new voice hissed, low and enraged, and Sideswipe shoved his way through the cluster of mechs surrounding the trine. Starscream tensed as a blaster was pointed at his face. "Sunstreaker's in the medbay because of you, and you expect-"

"Sideswipe," Prime said, his voice resonant and commanding as his hand pushed the blaster down.

"No! They almost killed Sunny!"

Skywarp's vents hitched audibly, and those furious aquamarine optics locked on him. Starscream stood and faced Prime as weapons whined with charge and targeted him. "We need to talk. Now."

Prime stared at Starscream for a long minute, then gestured toward the weapons. "Ironhide, secure these where they will be safe." To Starscream and his trinemates, he said, "Follow me. One wrong move, and- well, I'm sure I don't need to expound."

"Or make threats," Starscream replied, but he glanced back at Thundercracker, tipping a wing toward Skywarp, then followed Prime.

~ | ~

They were taken to the Autobots' conference room, and Thundercracker sat with Skywarp between himself and Starscream. Skywarp was still sniffling, wings low and chin tucked toward his canopy as he refused to look across the table at the four Autobot officers and Sideswipe.

"Red Alert is listening from the security hub," Prime said. Prowl and Jazz sat to his right, and to his left was Sideswipe, then Ironhide.

" _I'd be there, but like slag am I letting you distract **all** of us so the other Decepticons can sneak in here!_ "

"There is no attack coming," Starscream said, his tone even and calm in a way Thundercracker hadn't heard in an age. "We won't even be missed until tomorrow morning when Thundercracker doesn't show up for his shift." His optics shifted from the speaker in the middle of the table to Prime's face. "Skywarp teleported us directly out. As far as anyone knows, we're in our quarters."

" _Like I'm ever going to trust a word out of your mouth!_ "

"Easy, Red," Prime soothed, though those rich blue optics of his pinned Starscream with a stern glare. "Trust will not come fast, but if you are sincere-"

"Let me make this a little easier," Starscream said, cutting Prime off. He held up one hand, and then slowly reached for his subspace. A datapad was drawn out, pinched between two fingers and held up to show it wasn't a weapon.

"Oughta clear their subspaces," Ironhide rumbled. Beside him Sideswipe nodded. He probably assumed he was there as a guard, since even Thundercracker hadn't heard Starscream request the warrior's presence, though he had to have. Sideswipe didn't rank high enough for this sort of meeting.

"Later," Starscream dismissed with a wave as he set the datapad on the table and gave it a push. "To help prove that we are serious about not returning, that 'pad contains all the current console, door, and communication codes the Decepticons are using that I know of. It also holds the location of the space bridge, the codes to activate it, and the expected dates it can connect to Cybertron without incident." Starscream clasped his hands together on the table, and while all optics were on him, Thundercracker reached over to rest his hand on Skywarp's knee. It was a shallow offer of comfort, but it was something. Not like he could drag his aching mate into his arms and cuddle him in front of… anyone, really.

" _Be careful,_ " Red Alert snapped over the speaker. " _It could be a bomb!_

"I'm in the room, you idiot!" Starscream snapped right back. "My mates are in this room."

" _Oh, like you care about them?_ " Red Alert scoffed.

"I love them!"

And there was that shriek, Thundercracker thought.

"Enough!" Prime barked. "Red, you have every right and reason to distrust Starscream, but I'd like to get through this meeting before dawn."

Thundercracker expected more of a fight, but Starscream merely cycled his vents and said, "There is also a list of the places we've discussed raiding. I don't have dates on any of that as we usually decide the next raid at the weekly meeting."

Prime nodded as he thumbed on the datapad and scrolled, skimming the contents before passing it to Prowl. "That will all need verified."

Starscream dipped his chin in a nod. "Once they realized we're all three gone for good, that information will be useless. However, it's yours to do with as you wish. Try not to kill Soundwave's creations. The only time I've ever seen him angry was when Astrotrain was stupid enough to get rough with Frenzy."

Thundercracker huffed a soft noise that wasn't really a laugh before he could stop himself and regretted it instantly when all optics swung to him. "It… was ugly," he muttered, wings dipping lower under their attention.

"Now," Starscream said, drawing back the Autobots' attention, "I want to tell you a story." There was a loud, annoyed sigh over the speaker, but Prime just gestured for Starscream to continue. "Once upon a time, when I was a newly trined Seeker with an exciting new job in the labs of Altihex, I learned of a book I just _had_ to have. But it was expensive and hard to find, and I despaired of ever having it while it was still relevant to my field. Unbeknownst to me, my trinemates," he lifted a hand to gesture toward Skywarp and Thundercracker, "went off to get it for me. As they were flying home, _one of them_ ," and here a genuinely fond look was cast at Skywarp, "dropped it. They had to sink all the way to grubby ground to look for it. Worse. They were in the literal gutters."

Sideswipe gave an exaggerated yawn, and Ironhide snickered at the younger warrior despite the disapproving glare from Prowl.

Starscream continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "They found the bookfile, but they also found a pair of abandoned sparklings."

As Starscream described the condition and age of the sparklings, their colors once cleaned up, the fact that they were so very clearly spark twins, Thundercracker watched Sideswipe's face. Annoyance and suspicion morphed into disbelief, then rage.

Sideswipe's chair flew back as he launched to his feet. " _Liar_!" he roared, fists planted hard against the table. Skywarp flinched badly, and Thundercracker squeezed his knee. "I don't know what bullshit game you're playing, but you _never_ found me and Sunstreaker!" His helm whipped toward Prime. "He's making it up!"

" _I agree,_ " Red Alert said. " _That's quite a work of fiction._ "

"It's the complete truth," Starscream said, and reached again into his subspace.

Thundercracker felt his spark gutter at the sight of the little light cube. It bore the marks from one very red, once very happy, sparkling gnawing on it. Skywarp clamped both hands over his mouth, but that barely muffled the broken sob. Thundercracker hadn't known Starscream had that. He'd thought it lost in the Fall, though he couldn't fault Starscream for keeping it a secret. He had his secret little keepsake from their sparklings.

"Oh, fuck you!" Sideswipe snarled. Then he spun on a heel and stormed from the room and was gone before anyone could stop him.

"I don't…" Prime began.

Prowl lifted the light cube and inspected it. "I have not seen a toy like this since before the war began."

"Show them, Warp," Starscream directed, but at first he only received a confused, very watery, stare. "The images."

Skywarp's optics went round. "No!"

"Just set it out. They won't touch it," Thundercracker said with a warning glare toward Prowl. That was a treasure, an irreplaceable _treasure_ the mech was pawing!

Hiccupping sobs, Skywarp _very_ reluctantly dragged out the image display he had carried with him ever since they had found the twins. He set it on the table, still within easy reach to stop any of the Autobots from touching or taking it, then turned it on. Images Thundercracker hadn't seen in vorns upon vorns glowed to life above the display. He remembered the one with Starscream and him holding the twins as Skywarp hung on their shoulders from behind. Sunstorm had taken that picture, and it had been all Thundercracker could do to keep smiling as his wing had been pushed at an uncomfortable angle by Skywarp's affectionate tackle.

Optics burning, Thundercracker carefully cycled his vents, though the next image didn't help his composure. He gave up trying to hide his effort to comfort Skywarp and looped an arm around his mate's shoulders.

"Is that…?" Prowl began.

"It's been edited," Ironhide muttered, arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes. Labeled," Starscream said in reply to Prowl, and reached out to angle the display just a little so the lettering would show. "It's Vosian, and it says-"

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, day three," Prowl finished, his optics a bit large.

"Didn't know ya could read Vosian, Prowler," Jazz said with a grin.

"It hasn't been a required skill in a very long time," Prowl replied, leaning forward as the image changed.

"We…" Skywarp scrubbed at his face, vents catching every inhalation. "We took some kinda picture every day. _Every_ day," he said fiercely.

"Who is the blue Seeker?" Prime asked.

"Skywarp's carrier," Starscream answered. "He's third wing in the Second Trine. All three were alive on Cybertron last time we had contact."

Skywarp gasped and turned to face Starscream.

"Nice, Star," Thundercracker grumbled and rubbed his fingertips hard between his optics. Primus, of all the tactless things to say when Skywarp was already so upset.

"What?" Starscream asked. "That's the truth."

"They're _alive!_ " Skywarp shouted.

"I'm sure they are," Starscream said, clearly confused, and wasn't that just so very _Starscream_. He had no clue how much his words could hurt when he wasn't _trying_ to be cruel. "Which I just said."

"No you implied they could've been killed since last time!"

"They c-"

"Starscream!" Thundercracker shouted, being very certain to drown out any further suggestion that the Second Trine had fallen. "Can we, _please_ , focus here?" He gestured toward the images.

Starscream scowled, but turned back to the table, leaving Thundercracker to tug Skywarp into his side and try to soothe him. While Starscream described the places and mechs in the pictures, Thundercracker purred softly and assured Skywarp his family was fine.

"You know he's bad with words," Thundercracker whispered and received a slight nod and vent hitch. It was going to take hours for that glitch to clear with as long and hard as Skywarp had been crying.

"You can toss us in the brig. Cast us out," Starscream was saying as Thundercracker tuned back in. "Whatever you want, but we're not going back. We're sick to death of fighting our own creations." He reached out and slid the image display closer to him, shutting it down and handing it back to Skywarp for safekeeping. "We can't do it anymore. Today was too close."

"Ain'tcha usually the one hollerin' about takin' over the 'Cons?" Ironhide asked, poking his finger toward Starscream. "Can't do that from our brig."

With a heavy sigh, his wings sinking a bit, Starscream dropped his gaze to where his hands were folded together on the table. Thundercracker held Skywarp tighter as Starscream managed to admit something they had been saying for ages. "I'm not going to succeed at that regardless. Not from anywhere." He looked up and met Prime's optics. "Not before the unthinkable happens." He shook his helm. "Either our sparklings will manage to kill one of us, or one of us will misjudge and end up killing them." Starscream bit his lip and looked back down at the table. "That would destroy us. And even if that doesn't happen, Megatron might discover the truth and use it."

Starscream visibly pulled himself together, lifted his wings, and was once more composed and calm. Thundercracker had no idea how he did that. "It's time to try something different."

Jazz chuckled. "Can't get much different than this."

Prime was quiet for a long moment, and given the gestures and expressions, Thundercracker knew beyond doubt the Autobots were talking on comms. Finally Prime met Starscream's optics again. "Brig tonight. We need to talk, and see what information we can verify before it's potentially changed."

Starscream dipped his chin in a nod of agreement.

" _I want it on the record that I am **very** against this,_ " Red Alert said, his voice quaking in… probably rage. " _It's dangerous enough keeping one Decepticon as a prisoner. Having three, one who can teleport? You all want me to glitch out, I know you do._ "

Starscream turned in his seat and nudged Skywarp. "Open," he said, tapping the side of Skywarp's chest.

Skywarp heaved a sigh, or rather tried to. It came out shuddering and hitched, but he obeyed, and Starscream pointed.

"This is his teleportation drive." Starscream reached in, careful and gentle as Skywarp didn't so much as wince despite the look of displeasure on his face. Thundercracker knew how to disable the drive. They both did. It was a safety precaution for the times their trinemate had gotten drunk and thought it'd be great to teleport without running proper calculations. "This is a critical piece, and you can have your medic verify that." Starscream unplugged a pair of thin cables and removed a rather innocuous little chip. He patted Skywarp's shoulder as he rose to his feet and leaned across the table to hand it to Prime. "Without that, he can't teleport."

"I have a request," Prowl said. "I would like to have the images scrutinized."

"No," Skywarp said, arms wrapping around himself as he cringed closer to Thundercracker. "I didn't guard it through a whole f-fragging war to just h-hand it off now!"

Thundercracker rubbed his hand up and down Skywarp's arm. "If you want to see it, just ask. But it stays with us."

"As does this," Starscream added and picked up the light cube before straightening. "Now, unless you have any other questions for us right now, I need a berth before I fall down."

Prime nodded and stood. "If you'll follow me?"

Starscream helped Thundercracker get Skywarp to his feet, then they followed Prime, Ironhide, Jazz, and Prowl all marching along behind them.

~ | ~

Skywarp flinched awake, lost in the dim, unfamiliar, pink-orange glow. He blinked in confusion at the wall before his nose for a moment before it all came rushing back. That's right. He was alone in a cell in the Autobots' brig. Alone, because the cells were too small for even two Seekers to share, let alone three. He figured he could have made it work with Thundercracker, but that would leave Starscream out, and given their day, that was probably mean.

Even if Starscream was a slaghead most of the time.

Pushing himself up, Skywarp looked toward the energy bars separating him from freedom and his trinemates. His spark flared hard, and he scrambled to his feet at the sight of Sunstreaker, then it clenched in as he saw all the fresh welds, scrapes, and bare metal. Skywarp bit his lip against the burn in his optics and inched toward the glowing bars.

Sunstreaker crossed his arms over his chest, pretty face set in a scowl, aqua optics pale and narrowed. "Hope you're happy," he growled.

"Not really," Skywarp replied, his wings low and far too heavy to lift. It took all he had not to reach out, and in the end, the only real reason he didn't was because he knew Sunstreaker wouldn't allow touch. Even if the Seeker wouldn't fry himself on the bars.

Sunstreaker glared more, fury radiating from him. "Don't try to be cute with me, you glitchy freak. Sideswipe's passed out, drunk off his aft in the medbay. Ya know, where I was laid up thanks to _you_!"

Skywarp bit his lip again, harder, as he dropped his gaze. Every pulse of his spark lanced pain through his entire body. "I'm sorry," he whispered, unable to get his vocalizer to fully engage.

"Like I'll believe that," Sunstreaker scoffed. "He was all kinds of upset. _You_ upset my twin. He woke me talking all kinds of crazy slag, and I heard you're the one with the so-called proof."

Figuring they wouldn't be believed, that their sparklings would hate them -even in the face of the truth- was one thing. Having it right in front of him was agonizing. Skywarp reached slowly into his subspace and pulled out the image display. He turned it on as he inched a little closer to the bars, and angled it so Sunstreaker could see.

Sunstreaker watched in silence for a long few minutes, then he gave a shake of his helm. "That's not us, and I'm going to put you in the ground to rust for pulling this slag."

Skywarp opened his mouth to protest, but Sunstreaker was gone. Tears trickled down the Seeker's face despite his efforts to stop. He'd come so close to irreparably hurting Sunstreaker today. It'd been bad. Ratchet was renowned as the best medic ever, and Skywarp's sunny little bitlet was a patchwork of welds, bandaging, bare metal, and hatred. He hiccupped a sob and put away the display so it would be safe, and happened to look across the hall into Starscream's cell. _He_ had tears on his dark cheeks, shining bright pink in the light of the energy bars, and that was enough to break the dam inside Skywarp again. A sharper sob escaped, and he turned his back to go curl up on the narrow, too-small berth again.

How would they ever fix this?

~ | ~

It was late morning before Ratchet finished his rounds in the medbay -including dealing with a very hungover Sideswipe and lecturing his wounded twin for wandering off- before he was able to grab Ironhide and head to the brig. On a whim, he commed Skyfire to meet him there as well. Jazz had checked them for devices set to explode, but Ratchet had the deeper scanners and more medical knowledge. Plus he wanted a chance to talk to them himself. Sideswipe was distraught. As in, more so than Sunstreaker's injuries would normally cause. Of course Ratchet knew what the Seekers were claiming, and that was Pitslag.

Ratchet stopped in front of Skywarp's cell, taking in the Seeker curled up on the berth that was little more than a bench to begin with. It certainly wasn't meant for a mech Skywarp's size. His wings hung off the front side, his back toward the bars, and even with his knees bent, his helm was close to the wall and his feet touched the opposite side of the cell. The medic cast a glance back at Starscream, but he was awake, sitting, and his optics were on Ratchet. To see Thundercracker, Ratchet had to step to the side a bit. The blue Seeker was sprawled on his front right in the middle of the cell floor, helm resting on his arms. At first Ratchet thought he was recharging, but red optics opened to stare right back.

"Well. Let's get this over with," Ratchet said and motioned to Ironhide to open Skywarp's cell. "Come on, Skywarp. Sit up so I can do your scans."

Skywarp turned his head to look over his shoulder, dried tear tracks all over his face. He twisted over, precariously teetering on the edge of the berth as he sat up, and stared at the floor instead of Ratchet.

With something like pity flickering through his spark before he could completely quash it, Ratchet approached and sat on the berth beside the Seeker. The connection cable was offered, and once again Skywarp obeyed, but his every movement projected listless sorrow. Ratchet arched an optic ridge and began the scans once Skywarp had plugged the link into his med port.

"Why do you think the twins are yours?" Ratchet asked, his voice perhaps a little more biting than it should have been, but all he could picture was Sunstreaker's blood on his hands. All he could hear for a moment was Sideswipe's keening whimpers as he drunkenly tried to wind himself tighter around his injured brother. That _had_ to have hurt Sunstreaker, but instead of pushing Sideswipe away, Sunstreaker had crooned softly and held his twin despite the pain. That alone told Ratchet how very upset Sideswipe had been.

"Cuz they are," Skywarp replied in a barely there voice. "Known a long time, but the war wasn't supposed to last as long as it has." He shrugged a little. "I found them, you know. _I_ found them. I'd know them anywhere."

"How?" Ratchet pressed, optics on the scanner. He wasn't only looking for threats in the Seeker's systems, but also doing a spark scan, checking Skywarp's age, if he'd ever carried, and his general health, etcetera. He also tested the teleportation drive, but it was genuinely offline.

"The optics," Skywarp replied after a moment.

"Other mechs have a similar shade of blue," Ratchet said.

Skywarp shook his helm. "The color. The shape. The face they're in."

Ratchet waited, but Skywarp didn't elaborate beyond that. He was, to Ratchet's mild surprise, genuinely sad. If nothing else, _he_ believed he was right. Ratchet didn’t bother with any other questions, and once the scan was done, he held out his hand for the cable, letting Skywarp unplug himself.

Thundercracker was sitting up on his berth when Ratchet entered his cell. His field was tightly leashed, but sorrow still leaked out. His wings were low, not dragging the berth surface as Skywarp's had, but certainly at a low, distressed angle. Ratchet repeated everything as he had for Skywarp, though Thundercracker retracted the panel on his forearm and offered Ratchet his arm instead of plugging in for himself.

Ratchet began the same series of scans and looked up to meet Thundercracker's optics. They were pale, edged in white, and Thundercracker's mouth was set in a grim line. "You believe it too, don't you?"

"It's knowledge, not belief," Thundercracker replied, that deep bass voice of his a soft rumble of sorrow. "Skywarp wasn't lying. We've known for a long time, and we've done our best to avoid fighting them when we could. Earth made that harder."

With a shake of his head and a sigh, Ratchet said, "I don't see how you could know for certain. There are facts about the twins that make a lie of your little fairytale."

Thundercracker's plating shuffled before clamping tighter to his frame. He turned his face away from Ratchet and said nothing else.

Before long, Ratchet stood before Starscream's cell. The usually volatile Seeker was weirdly serene where he sat on the berth, and he didn't wait for Ratchet to say anything. "They are ours." His voice was softer than Ratchet had ever heard it before, but it still rung with complete conviction. The Seeker held out his arm, and Ratchet plugged in.

"They're too old to have been sparklings when Vos fell," Ratchet said.

"Is that what you think?" Starscream asked. He tipped his helm to see the scanner's screen, then smirked. "You should run that scan on their sparks. See what your results are."

Ratchet growled and angled the scanner away from Starscream. "I think you're full of slag, and this is some incredibly cruel plot to demoralize two of the Autobots' best fighters.

Starscream shook his helm. "It's not. As I told Prime. We're tired of having to fight our own sparklings. They aren't ours by birth, but they _are_ ours."

"You're too ambitious for this to be real, Starscream, but I commend the act." Of the three, Starscream should be the easiest to goad into giving something away. Ratchet was no Jazz, but he certainly knew how to get mechs to tell him information they didn't want to. The trick was finding the right angle.

Instead of bristling, Starscream just shook his helm. "Please, medic. Everyone knows I was beating my head against the wall with that slag."

"Then why did you keep on so long?"

"I thought if I could take charge of the Decepticons, get rid of Megatron, then I could end the war. We could have peace and maybe eventually my trine could have our family back." Starscream gave Ratchet a wry smile. "Bet you didn't know what a hopeful little fool I could be."

Ratchet had no response for that, so when the scans completed, he took back the cable and left. At the little guard station, Skyfire knelt in front of the monitors, and Ratchet cocked an optic ridge at him when the big mech looked up. "Well?"

Skyfire shrugged and shook his helm. "Starscream wasn't trined when I knew him. I was lost before he was old enough to seek a trine."

"Is he lying?" Ratchet asked.

Skyfire huffed a slight laugh as he pushed to his feet and moved aside so Bluestreak could take his place back at the monitors. "Why does everyone believe I'm the Starscream lie detector?" He shook his helm again, but before Ratchet could open his mouth, Skyfire said, "It seems to me that he's telling the truth. I can't say whether or not the twins are their long-lost sparklings, but I _think_ he believes it."

Ratchet nodded and turned for the door, but Skyfire's next words froze him in his tracks.

"It really is interesting though, that a second set of red and yellow split-spark twins, grounders at that, have such Vosian names." Skyfire gestured for Ratchet to walk, as though the medic had paused to wait for him, rather than been shocked to feel a trickle of doubt in his own mind. "I would second Starscream's suggestion. If you and their records state that the twins are too old to have been sparklings at the Fall, then that would be all the proof anyone would need. A deep spark scan doesn't take that long."

"No," Ratchet said slowly as he forced his feet to move. "It doesn't." Then he was striding quickly down the hall, determination nipping as his heels. "I need to talk to Optimus."

~ | ~

"Alright," Ratchet said, drawing Sideswipe's attention. They were back in the conference room, though this time it was just Prime and Prowl, himself, Sunstreaker, and of course the medic. "They believe it."

"Yes," Prowl said. "The question is whether or not they are correct."

"They're not," Sunstreaker growled. "No fragging way are we their brats."

"They claim adoption," Ratchet said, fiddling with a datapad in front of him. "That means there's no way to prove you are theirs beyond all doubt."

"Because we aren't," Sideswipe insisted.

Prime lifted his hand a little from the table to give Sideswipe and Sunstreaker a calming gesture. It certainly didn't calm Sideswipe. "What is it you propose, Ratchet?"

The medic met Sideswipe's optics and cycled his vents. "I want to do deep spark scans, but I also want to know everything the two of you can remember from your lives before the war started. Do you know who gave you your names?"

Sunstreaker pressed closer within the bond. They didn't like thinking about their early lives, let alone _telling_ others about it. Shame twisted, dark and sickly under their sparks, and Sideswipe heaved a sigh and scrubbed a hand over his face. "My- our earliest memories, aren't really memories," Sideswipe finally said. "They're more like… impressions. There was fear. Screams and shouts. We were… lonely." So fragging _lonely_. "When I push back that far, I feel confused. There's this sense of…"

"Wrongness," Sunstreaker supplied, and when he pushed more at the bond, Sideswipe met him and pulled them both in deeper. Shame pulsed in time with their sparks. Terror. Horror. Desperate cries that went unanswered, or worse, were answered with pain.

"Our first… client," Sideswipe grated out, "at the brothel-"

"He asked our names," Sunstreaker said.

"I knew Sunny was Sunny."

"I knew that Sides was Sides."

Sideswipe shrugged, feeling off balance and embarrassed, humiliated to admit he was once a buymech. One with no choice in the matter. "We were there a while." He shook his helm. "I don't know how long. Too long if it was an hour, but it had to have been a solid half vorn at least. We managed to sneak out one morning, and we ran. From there it was the streets. The gutters.

"What city?" Prowl asked as he made notes on a datapad.

Sideswipe felt his and Sunstreaker's faces heat, and he avoided looking at his twin because he didn't want to see those high, hot pink flags on his brother's cheeks. "Kaon."

"Learned to fight," Sunstreaker mumbled. "Scraped by. Ended up in the Pits."

"By then Megatron was already well on his way with his rebellion. Starting to get really popular." Sideswipe cycled his vents. "We were thinking of joining him actually."

" _Don't_ tell Cliffjumper!" Sunstreaker interrupted.

"We won't," Prime said soothingly.

Sideswipe nudged his twin with affection and reassurance then continued. "He wasn't exactly wrong back then, but we went to a rally and there were _all_ these Seekers around."

"Fraggin' everywhere!" Sunstreaker added.

Anger swelled in their sparks, but Sideswipe pushed it down. Or tried to. "We _hate_ Seekers. We always have. The first time we saw them, we wanted to rip their wings off."

"Every fragging one of them," Sunstreaker said with a snarl.

Sideswipe nodded and faced Prime directly. "So how, with such damn instinctive hatred, could we _ever_ have had some loving, perfect family in Vos?"

"That is a good question," Prowl said, his even tone making Sideswipe's plating itch given the circumstances. "However, the trine seems entirely convinced." He lifted the datapad to bring everyone's attention to it. "Jazz messaged me. So far every bit of information Starscream has given us, that we can check, has proven true. They believe they are your caretakers enough to genuinely defect."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both growled, and Sideswipe demanded, "So, what? Just _pretend_ we believe them? Let them play doting creators to us? I want to rip their fucking sparks out, not play their screwed up game!"

"No, Sideswipe," Prime said, his voice pitched to calm and reassure still. Sideswipe was beginning to hate that tone. "We would never ask such a thing from either of you."

"Besides," Ratchet said. "While I really needed that info to compare it to what's in your files and prep for what I might find, there is one way to easily disprove that you were ever with the Seekers." He pulled the scanner from his subspace and set it on the table. "This is a good one, but the one in the medbay is faster. I really want to do that deep scan on both of your sparks. If you were gladiators in the Pits, then there is no way you were young enough to be sparklings when the trine say you were."

Sunstreaker was on his feet only half a second before Sideswipe was. "What are we waiting for?"

"One moment," Prime said, and he leaned forward, hands together on the table. "I need you both to know that I'm going to trust them, and to understand why."

"Stupid to trust them," Sunstreaker grumbled. "Should leave them locked up to rust."

"My trust, such as it is, will come with caveats," Prime said. "They will be monitored, they will be informed that they are not to approach either of you without your express permission, but we cannot keep three Seekers in our tiny brig cells indefinitely. It's cruel, and to all evidence, they are being sincere in their wish to leave the Decepticons."

"Still think it's stupid," Sunstreaker said, his arms crossed over his chest and feet braced apart on the floor.

Sideswipe elbowed his twin lightly. There was no need to sass at Prime. They would just keep their optics open and do what frontliners did best- protect their fellow Autobots. "So long as they don't come near me or Sunny, I'll leave their wings on their backs." He turned his attention to Ratchet. "Now let's get these scans started. The sooner I can go shove the results in Starscream's dumb face, the better."

~ | ~

Starscream swept his gaze over their new quarters. It wasn't much to look at and all but empty, but it was larger than they'd had on the _Victory_. The berth was large enough to accommodate the three of them at least. Starscream would have refused to recharge separately as it was regardless, but a decent sized berth -that was clearly newly built too- was nice. He pressed a hand down on the padding, surprised as the rubbery substance gave under his touch. Before the thought registered, Starscream was crawling onto the berth, knees pressing in, the cushion giving, but still supporting.

"Primus, frag me," he mumbled, staring down at his hands and the indents they caused. A hazy sort of giggle bubbled up from his vocalizer, and Starscream stretched out on his front, canopy pressing in, but not uncomfortably so as the cushioning surrounded him. "I'm never recharging on bare metal again."

The berth shifted a little- the frame itself, and then Thundercracker was lying next to Starscream with a soft groan as he sank into the berth as well.

"Never again," Starscream swore, still grinning.

"Primus," Thundercracker moaned, arms, wings, and legs pulling into a stretch before flopping to the padding. "I haven't had anything close to this since Vos."

"This is better," Starscream said.

"You're being stupid," Skywarp huffed. "Our sparklings hate us, and none of the Autobots actually believe us, and here you two are, cooing over a stupid berth."

Starscream looked back over his shoulder. "You're only saying that because you haven't laid on it yet." He reached out and patted the berth to his side. "Come try it. Enjoying a plush berth isn't going to change anything beyond that door."

Skywarp sighed and stepped forward, but before he could climb on the berth, the door chimed. Starscream scowled but pushed himself up to go answer it. "Who's visiting already?" Behind him, Thundercracker sat up, and Skywarp lingered by the berth.

"Hey," Skyfire said as the door slid aside.

For a moment, Starscream's vents failed to cycle and his spark clenched. Seeing Skyfire still hurt apparently. "Hello," he replied, utterly uncertain as to how to handle this. At one time in the very distance past, Starscream had considered courting Skyfire once he was old enough, but then Skyfire had been lost. Then lost again in what might have been a worse way. So close, but so far out of reach, and Starscream too changed to try to reach for those old fantasies anyway.

"May I come in a moment?" Skyfire asked as silence stretched out between them. He tipped his helm to look past Starscream, clearly directing the request at the three of them.

That actually made it easier for Starscream, and he stepped back to make room. "We aren't lying," the Seeker said.

Skyfire nodded as he glanced around the room. "A bit spartan still," he said with a smile and took a seat on the floor. "I'll see what we have around. What do you three need? Desks? Just seating? Maybe a table?" he asked looking around the room again.

"Why are you here?" Skywarp demanded, his arms crossed over his chest and optics narrowed. Starscream crossed back to his trinemate and stroked a hand down the back of a wing still held too low. Not that his rudeness would upset Skyfire.

"I want to help," Skyfire replied with a slight smile. "I don't know what I believe. I want to help find the truth- whatever it might be."

"It _is_ the truth!" Skywarp snapped, and Starscream caught his wrist when he took an aggressive step toward Skyfire. Skywarp jerked his arm away. "We found them! We named them!"

"Warp," Starscream said in a warning tone as Thundercracker reached out a hand to Skywarp as well. "He's trying to help."

"I really am," Skyfire said, still calm and unoffended. "I don't know which way the evidence will go, and I'm sorry if that makes you angry. I can see _you_ three believe it, but before we'll convince anyone else, we need legitimate evidence."

"I suggested Ratchet check the twins' sparks," Starscream said, but then another thought occurred to him. "Warp. Let me have the images."

Skywarp's wings shot up, nearly clipping Thundercracker's face. "What?! Pit, _no_! You're not running experiments on it and breaking it!"

"I would never break it," Skyfire promised. "Not ever. Right or wrong about the current Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, I would _never_ allow harm to come to such a precious keepsake."

"I'll go with him, Warp. Hand it over." Starscream held out his hand, but still Skywarp didn't budge.

"Do it, Warp," Thundercracker said softly. "They'll be able to make sure it wasn't falsified or whatever, and that'll be just that much more proof to them that we're right."

Skywarp eyed them all before reaching into his subspace again. His wings sank and bottom lip wibbled as he held the display out to Starscream. "I'll never forgive you if they frag that up. Not ever," he swore softly.

Starscream cradled the small device in his hand, and pulled Skywarp closer so he could kiss his cheek with the other. "I wouldn't forgive myself. Lie down with Thundercracker and rest a while. I know you barely recharged last night."

Thundercracker tugged at Skywarp's hand as Starscream stepped back and turned for the door. Skyfire got to his feet quickly to follow, and then once out of the room, he took the lead toward the Autobots' lab.

"Thank you," Skyfire said. "For trusting me."

Starscream flicked his wings and felt his face heat a little. "I don't… know if I do."

"Understandable. But it's still a show of trust," Skyfire said. "And I swear I won't harm that display."

Starscream could only nod. It was no surprise they weren't believed. It was completely expected. In fact, it was a miracle that they hadn't been tossed in the brig to rust while the Autobots tried to wheedle a couple weeks of ceasefire out of Megatron for their return. And Starscream held no illusions as to how violent his beating would be even _if_ he could convince Megatron they had been captured on a joy flight.

When they entered the lab, Perceptor and Wheeljack both looked up. Perceptor offered a tentative smile, and Wheeljack said, "Hey," by way of greeting.

"They agreed to let us verify the images," Skyfire said as he led the way to the console the other two mechs stood by. "I swore we wouldn't harm it in any way."

Two sets of blue optics went round, and Wheeljack's helmfins flashed a bright red. "Pits, no! We have to work under the assumption this is a relic from before the war." He shook his helm and met Starscream's optics. " _If_ it's legit, and we were to damage it…" He shook his helm again, and stepped out of Skyfire's way.

"If you will, Starscream?" Skyfire said, gesturing to the console. "You know how all this works, and I'm sure you'll be more comfortable the less we touch the display itself."

He wasn't wrong, and Starscream nodded in appreciation as he stepped forward, set the little cube on the console, and plugged it in. "Whatever you do, Primus please, don't erase it."

"Don't worry," Wheeljack said, daringly reaching out to pat Starscream's shoulder. "I won't even blow it up accidentally."

Starscream tipped his head to the side, unsure how that was supposed to be funny, but Wheeljack was snickering to himself as he keyed on the console to begin collecting the display's data.

"Don't mind Jack," Skyfire said softly, so only Starscream would hear him. He twisted around, helm swiveling until he spotted whatever he was looking for, then stepped away. 'Whatever' turned out to be a stool, and Skyfire placed it next to Starscream with a gesture for him to sit. "It'll be a bit," he explained.

It did take a while. First all the data was backed up and stored on a separate chip, which was handed to Starscream. It might have been 'just in case' but it made his spark pulse harder in concern. Then he listened to them babble over the device itself before moving onto the images.

"Well, this is clearly old," Wheeljack said.

"Vosian in design," Perceptor said as he gently lifted the cube-shaped base of the image display. "Here." He pointed to the label on the bottom, optics narrowing. Starscream knew the stamped metal plate was worn and hard to read. "Crafted in air- oh dear. It has been a while since I attempted to read Vosian. Crafted in high quality by Anamnesis Designs."

"I didn't know ya could read Vosian, Perce," Wheeljack said.

"It has been a while."

"I remember that company," Skyfire said, and flashed a grin back at Starscream. "They had a studio in Altihex that included professional imaging services for events."

A slight smile curved one corner of Starscream's mouth up. "The Gala Expo."

"You remember!" Skyfire chortled, and Starscream shook his helm, bemused as his old academy partner turned back to the console and their work. "Alright, so this display is the real thing. Now let's verify the images themselves."

"I have the last analysis running now," Perceptor replied. "Once it is complete, we will have our results for image dates, and depending on the settings used at the time by the mech that took the capture, we may even be lucky enough to have locations."

"There's a lot of information on the images," Starscream said. "Skywarp didn't take all of them, but he was meticulous about recording all pertinent data."

"I had not considered Skywarp to be particularly meticulous in personality?" Perceptor said as they all waited. "However, such information can only aid us."

Starscream offered a one-winged shrug. "He can be incredibly detailed when he wants to be. And when it came to our sparklings, he was dedicated. It destroyed us to think they were dead. And when we rediscovered them, learned they were Autobots, it tore new wounds into our sparks."

"How is it you were so certain?" Perceptor asked, turning a curious gaze on Starscream, and unlike Ratchet's demanding disbelief, the scientist seemed to really want to know.

Starscream shook his helm. "They are red and gold. They carry the names we gave our foundlings. They have the same aquamarine optics. They are twins." He shrugged, this time both wings and his shoulders, at a complete loss. "We just knew. I don't know how to describe it. My energon went to ice. My spark about guttered. They _are_ our twins, and they've been through the Unmaker's own Pits before the war ever started, when they should have been in our arms!"

"Star," Skyfire said and placed a soothing hand on Starscream's shoulder.

"Sorry," Starscream muttered, looking at the floor as he realized how heated he had become. He was trying not to do that. No one would take him seriously if he still sounded like Megatron's crazy Second in Command. "I know it's hardly scientific, but we just knew."

"Not everything can be explained by science as we know it," Perceptor said, then, "Ah ha! Our scan is complete."

Starscream dared to look up, but all three of the Autobots were clustered around the console now, and he couldn't see past them. They spoke in low voices, but Skyfire paused long enough to give Starscream a grin over his shoulder before turning back.

"I'll call it," Wheeljack said as he straightened and they backed up enough to allow Starscream to see the screen. "The information is authentic."

"I am comfortable in agreeing with you." Perceptor keyed down through a few more images. "I fully believe that in pre-Fall Vos, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp had adopted sparklings they named Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

Starscream frowned as he stood to collect the image display. "But you don't believe that they are the same Sunstreaker and Sideswipe living here in _Ark_ now?"

"We have no definitive proof," Perceptor corrected, and from anyone else but the very literal scientist, Starscream knew he'd have been furious instead of merely irked. Empirical proof was Perceptor's energon and goodies though. He couldn't be blamed for choosing not to stand behind a claim until he had absolute proof for it.

"Thank you then," Starscream said as he tucked the cube in his subspace.

"Oh, thank you!" Perceptor said with a gesture to the screen. "This is a beautiful collection. I imagine that if the twins are your lost sparklings, having access to this amount of information on their early lives will be rather exciting."

Starscream gave the mech a half-smile, glad that Wheeljack stepped in to distract him. If. And of course _if_ the twins even wanted to hear it from Starscream and his trine in the first place. He let Skyfire lead him back to his quarters and thanked him again. Skyfire beamed happily at that.

"You still have my comms?"

"I have yours, but mine are disabled," Starscream reminded.

"Oh." Blue optics blinked. "Well, then I'll just swing by before recharge. If you need anything, I'm happy to help. Ok?"

"Ok," Starscream replied and keyed open his door, being sure it locked behind him.

"Well?" Skywarp asked, scrambling off the berth and bee-lining to Starscream.

Starscream pulled the display back out of his subspace and handed it over to Skywarp before he could be asked. "They've agreed that the images are authentic."

"So they believe us?" Skywarp asked without looking up from the small cube in his hands. He wouldn't find anything wrong with it, but Starscream let him look and towed him back to the berth.

"They believe we had sparklings named Sunstreaker and Sideswipe," Starscream replied as he sank down to sit on the edge of the berth. Exhaustion was gnawing at him. He certainly hadn't recharged last night. Worry over the Autobots' intended actions, Sunstreaker's unexpected appearance, and of course, what would happen when Megatron discovered they were missing plagued his mind. Listening to Skywarp's wrenching sobs hadn't really inspired rest either.

"Such slag," Skywarp growled.

Starscream reached out a hand and pulled until Skywarp crawled onto the berth, then he scooted back so he could lie down. With a heavy sigh, Starscream closed his optics. Thundercracker shifted closer, and that was incredibly comforting. "No matter what, we have a new chance here. We'll never be Autobots, but we can be a _real_ trine again." He dared open his optics and turn his helm toward Thundercracker.

"That'd be nice," Thundercracker murmured and snuggled a little closer. "I've missed our family."

Starscream turned his helm to look at Skywarp. Red optics were pale and shining wet again, but he nodded too, and Starscream tugged him in against his side. "Let's get some rest. We're safe enough for now."

~ | ~

Sunstreaker was bored out of his mind as Ratchet did scan after scan after scan. He sighed, rolled his optics, and opened his chest plating for a visual check of his spark and the components around it. Then he sat and eyed the medic as Sideswipe was subjected to the same inspection. How much of any of this was even going to be news to Ratchet? The mech had put them back together countless times. He had seen, and saved, both twins' sparks literally hundreds of times.

"So are we gonna live?" Sunstreaker asked and crossed his arms over his chest.

Ratchet gave him a wry grin. "Near as I can tell."

The medbay door swooshed open just then, and in scurried Perceptor. "I have the most interesting- Oh! Oh, I am glad to see you checking Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Ratchet." The scientist gave both twins a bright smile. "Can I help with anything?"

"Yes," Ratchet said immediately. "You're better at processors than me. I need a check for stressors. _Old_ stressors."

"Excellent!"

Sunstreaker sighed, annoyed they had to even go through this nonsense. They weren't some Seeker's brat. Not even adopted. They hated Seekers.

_It sucks, but don't get growly at Perceptor, ok, bro?_

_Shut up, Sides. I'm not gonna be mean to the little nerdbot._

Another couple _hours_ later and finally all the tests were done. Sunstreaker sat beside his twin, trying not to look like he was nervous. Sideswipe leaned back on his hands, legs swinging, as he pretended at nonchalance. Sunstreaker could feel his emotions over the bond though, and nudged his twin.

 _It's stupid,_ Sideswipe grumbled. _I'm smarter than to fall for a good act, but it really was a **good** act._

 _I know. I saw Skywarp last night,_ Sunstreaker replied.

Ratchet huffed and snapped. "Bullshit! This is utter bullshit!"

Perceptor remained as unruffled as always. "I know you do not wish it to be true, but the evidence-"

"Whoa!" Sideswipe hollered.

"What?!" Sunstreaker shouted in the same instant as both he and Sideswipe leapt to their feet. "What the frag do you mean 'true'?"

When Ratchet didn't speak, only crossed his arms over his chest and glared off to the side, Perceptor said, "The deep spark and processor scans support one another. The two of you were upgraded _far_ too young. Honestly, to put a sparkling into an adult frame at such an age is tantamount to abuse. No, it _is_ abuse. It is cruel but also foolish. It's a wonder you both survived."

Sunstreaker frowned. "Isn't that what they do to sparks that come from Vector Sigma?" He remembered doing exactly that, in fact, when they built the Aerialbots.

"New sparks from Vector Sigma are very different from sparklings born from a mech," Ratchet said and scrubbed at his face. "And Perceptor's right." He bit out a sharp curse in a language Sunstreaker didn't recognize. "What the scans show is that the two of you really were fragging sparklings around the time Vos fell. Just your frelling estimated spark age alone does that." He flung a hand out and started pacing.

Through their bond, Sunstreaker felt the horror rising in his twin's spark right alongside his own. Perceptor sealed it.

"It is only more and more likely that the two of you are indeed the same set of spark twins the Seekers found." Perceptor often missed social cues, rolling right over the facts in his excitement of chasing down a mystery, but now he offered the twins a soft, apologetic smile. "This is not _entirely_ conclusive, however, I cannot help but consider the odds with all the evidence. A pair of red and yellow spark-split twins, the right spark age, showing all the markers for mechs upgraded far too soon into adult frames, and with the very same, rather Vosian-sounding names?" He shook his helm. "It is astronomically unlikely that you are _not_ the same twins in the image captures I assisted in authenticating earlier."

"No," Sunstreaker denied with a hard shake of his helm.

"I don't want to believe it either, Sunny," Ratchet said softly. "I really don't. And honestly, there's no way to confirm you are, but everything we have done to try to disprove it has only pointed more and more to it being true."

"Are we done?" Sunstreaker asked, more demanded, but damnit. This was slag.

"Yes," Ratchet replied with a wave to toward the door. "I'm here if either of you need me though."

"Thanks, Ratch," Sideswipe said, his fingers curling around Sunstreaker's wrist. "You too, Percy."

"You are welcome."

Sunstreaker let Sideswipe hold onto his wrist all the way to their quarters, but once they were inside he pulled away to flop onto their sofa. Sideswipe paced.

"I don't get it," Sideswipe huffed after a few minutes of furiously trying to stomp a trail into their floor. "If they found us in a gutter, took us home, cleaned us up, and called us their own, then _why the frag_ did they throw us back out?!"

Sunstreaker winced, old wounds aching somewhere deep in his spark.

"Sunny," Sideswipe said, suddenly still and his voice barely a whisper. _I remember the stupid block. Frag me, but I do!_ He clutched at his helm, fingers scraping against the horns on his helm. An echo of the pain reached Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker let that new information rattle around in his processors for a moment, then said, "Ya know what." He stood and grabbed Sideswipe by the upper arm. "Come on. Fuck this. We're gonna go ask the fraggers. If they really are telling the truth, then they can tell us why we ended up in a frelling gutter's brothel."

Sideswipe let himself be towed back out to the hall, but his mind was on that blasted toy block. _It should glow?_ He gave Sunstreaker a confused, almost pleading look. "Shouldn't it?"

"We'll ask."

~ | ~

Starscream dragged himself from the berth and his trinemates' warm frames to answer the insistent ping from their door. He half-expected it to be Skyfire since the mech had promised to come back later. It was later, though not exactly evening energon time. Of course, it was completely reasonable that the Autobots were on a different shift schedule. Nothing could have prepared him for opening the door and coming face to face with their sparklings.

"Well?" Sunstreaker asked, tone belligerent as Starscream gaped at him. "Gonna let us in or not?"

Primus, he was not awake enough for this. "Yes. Come in." On the berth, Skywarp and Thundercracker scrambled to untangle themselves and sit up. "You caught us recharging," he explained needlessly.

"Uh huh," Sideswipe said. Both twins stood with their arms crossed, shoulder to shoulder. They were the very definition of a united front, and Starscream found himself easing back toward the berth and his trine. As much as he could see his sparklings in these mechs, they were also cunning, _vicious_ warriors. "We want to know why, assuming we're your brats, why you abandoned us in a brothel."

Skywarp cried out in shock, but it was Thundercracker to snap, "We never abandoned you!" He shoved himself from the berth, wings high and shaking. "Whipwind was watching you for us at the park with his wingless bitlet. It was just an hour or so where our shifts overlapped, but then the city was attacked!" Starscream stepped toward Thundercracker, spark throbbing hard. He hadn't seen Thundercracker so worked up in a _long_ time. "That fragger's piece of slag mate left the two of you and _his own sparkling_ there to die as our city burned! We looked, but you were gone!"

"We loved you," Skywarp whimpered. "Still do."

Starscream nodded as he pulled Skywarp close with his free hand. "I should have taken the day off," he said. "Or gone in late. Anything but trust him."

They are all quiet for a long, tense moment, then Sideswipe said, "I want to see the block."

"And I want a better look at the images," Sunstreaker added. "Without energy bars in the way."

Starscream pulled the old glow block from his subspace and nudged Skywarp with his elbow. "The images were verified."

"We know," Sideswipe said as he took the block and turned it over and over in his hands.

Sunstreaker thumbed on the image display, and Starscream smiled. A little golden sparkling hung in the air, arms and legs flung wide. Purple fingers were splayed, hands reaching, ready to catch the happy bitlet. "I'll never forget the day I came home from the labs to see the two of you stepping off the balcony. You were fearless then too."

"Me and IceStorm were catching you," Skywarp told them. "Freaked Star out, but you were both having so much fun. You loved to fly."

"That picture was taken in Praxus," Starscream said when Sunstreaker pulled up another. "We flew all night with the two of you tucked into warm slings against our chests."

"Why not in the cockpit?" Sideswipe asked, lifting his gaze to the image for only a moment before he turned back to the block. Black fingers traced the scrapes and indents.

Thundercracker shook his helm. "It'd have been faster, but you two were still so new to us then, and we didn't know how fast we could travel with such young groundlings." He reached into his subspace. "I've still got the crystals a vender in the Gardens gifted to you." He held out his palm, and Sunstreaker scowled at the red and amber crystal clusters.

"Hn."

"You can have them," Thundercracker offered, making Skywarp gasp and Starscream tense. "They were gifts to the both of you."

Sunstreaker tipped his helm, and Sideswipe shrugged then nodded. The golden twin took the crystals, tucking them straight into his subspace. "What about this one?"

The image changed to Acid Storm and Swiftwind holding a twin each. Swiftwind was making Sideswipe wave, a huge smile on his face. Starscream felt a burn in his optics. Swiftwind had been a good Winglord. Far better than Starscream had turned out, and shame flared hard, making it difficult to speak. "That's the Winglord holding Sideswipe, and Skywarp's sire, Acid Storm. He's the trine leader of the Second trine. Swiftwind adored the both of you, and that certainly aided the acceptance of a pair of groundlings in the Aeries."

The block turned over and over in Sideswipe's hands, though he finally looked up. Aquamarine locked on Skywarp's face. "You're fragging Vosian nobility?" Sunstreaker snorted something that might almost have been a laugh.

"It's not like that," Skywarp said. "It's not permanent, and I didn't really get any rank from my creators. I mean, sure. I guess it helped me cuz mechs knew me and all, but I'm more… uh… nobility now than I was back then. Starscream's Winglord. My sire's trine is still Second. They supported Starscream's rise and didn't challenge him when he stepped up to be Winglord when… when Swiftwind was killed."

Sideswipe made a noncommittal sound, optics dropping back to the block. "This should glow."

"It might still if we could find a safe way to charge it," Starscream said.

Sideswipe looked up at him. "It was mine."

Starscream could only nod.

"Who's this one?" Sunstreaker asked, holding out the display.

"That's Whipwind," Thundercracker replied and turned his head to look at Skywarp. "Why do you have a picture of him in there?"

Skywarp half-lifted a wing in a shrug. "I was taking pictures of the sparklings at the park, and he asked me too." He shrugged again. "Didn't seem right to delete it after… you know. After."

Starscream laced his fingers with Skywarp's. "It was good to keep, Warp," he said softly. "Too many are forgotten anymore. That's one face that won't be."

Sunstreaker turned off the display and held it out to Thundercracker. "Fine."

"Fine?" Skywarp asked.

"He means, fine, you really did find us and lose us when we were sparklings," Sideswipe said. "Not sure that's going to change anything though." He looked at Sunstreaker. "Come on. I'm fragged. Need to recharge."

Without another word, the twins turned for the door. Starscream reached out a hand, spark galloping and lines icing as Sideswipe walked out with the cherished glow block. He could have stopped him. He could have called out, but that was Sideswipe's block.

"I didn't know you had that with you until the meeting," Thundercracker murmured into the silence.

Starscream cycled his vents and tried to get a grip on his emotions. "I meant to give it to Whipwind that day. Just in case Sideswipe got fussy, but I was in a hurry, and I forgot."

Thundercracker bit his lip, optics glazing in tears as he pulled out a little Seeker doll. It was tattered and one hand was stained pink from Sunstreaker's habit of sucking on it after feeding.

It was more than Starscream could bear. Skywarp too. Somehow they managed to get back to their berth and collapse together. And the next time the door chimed, Starscream ignored it.

~ | ~

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker barely recharged the night before. Again. Sideswipe had the weirdest urge to put the block in his mouth, and only Sunstreaker's disgusted sneer stopped him.

"That thing has _got_ to be filthy. How the frag long has it been tumbling around in _Starscream's_ subspace?" he had asked, and that was enough of a reminder for Sideswipe. He put the block in his own subspace and dealt with his fingers itching to touch it for a while.

They survived the night, but neither of them were happy about all they had learned. It ached. A funny little stab from somewhere under their sparks. They had, supposedly, once had a loving family. Of course, they'd been tossed into the gutters first, but not everyone thought twins were a good thing. In fact, there were some that deemed them bad luck and evil. Stupid superstitious glitches.

Morning found them both entering the medbay, no conscious decision having guided their feet, but Ratchet was where they went when they hurt, and right now- they _hurt_.

"What if they're just making up the bit about that Whipwind mech losing us?" Sideswipe asked once Ratchet had sat them down on a med berth together and shoved energon into their hands.

Ratchet heaved a sigh and shook his helm. "I don't know. I suppose it could all be true, much as I farking hate admitting that." He crossed his arms, chin tucked close to his chest as he stared at the floor and worried at his lip. "There is a mech here that survived the Fall of Vos. He went through something similar to what the Seekers described. I… wasn't going to bring him into this, but since everything points toward the two of you possibly being who they say you are, maybe I should?"

Sideswipe tipped his helm in curiosity, but Ratchet wasn't really asking them. He went back to sipping his energon as Ratchet spoke to someone on his comms. A few minutes later, Tracks entered the medbay, confusion on his face. Sideswipe felt Sunstreaker tense. A meeting between both of the _Ark_ 's resident strutting peacocks could always go bad. Tracks could be decent enough, but when he was in a _mood_ , he enjoyed needling Sunstreaker into an equally bad one.

"Thanks for this, Tracks," Ratchet said, and dragged over two stools.

Tracks took a seat and eyed the twins. "You're welcome. What is it you need from me?" he asked, tone suspicious.

"I was hoping you would tell the twins what you can recall of Vos." Ratchet offered Tracks a cube too, then sat on the other stool.

Tracks frowned into his cube, shifting awkwardly on the stool. "This has something to do with the rumors about them being their creators," he said with a wave at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Ratchet nodded, and Tracks heaved a sigh.

"I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think it was relevant," Ratchet said.

With a soft, humorless laugh, Tracks said, "So long as you don't say I'm theirs next."

"No, just us lucky slaggers over here," Sunstreaker grumbled before draining the rest of his cube.

"I don't recall much, you understand," Tracks started, the cube rotating between his hands as he fiddled with it. "My earliest _real_ memory is of a Seeker I think was my carrier. He had a… heavy field, but I remember him turning his head from where he was staring out the windows. There was a sad look on his face until he saw me and smiled." He shook his helm. "I have impressions of him. Warm, secure arms. Soft singing, though I can't for the life of me recall the song."

Tracks fell silent, seemingly lost in his memories, and Sideswipe glanced at his twin. This was… honest Tracks. No drama or posturing, and it was _weird_.

"I remember fire," Tracks said, his voice soft and almost trembling. "I was terrified. I can recall strange mechs all around me, but they weren't my carrier. They didn't have wings, and-" His hand came up to touch his throat. "There was pain. From screaming, I should think." Then he blinked and cycled his vents, looking up to meet Sideswipe's gaze. "I was lucky. The youth center I was taken to after being rescued tended me gently despite my poor behavior. My caretaker found me there within days of the Fall from what I was told. He was a wealthy and kind mech." The hand moved from his throat to flap airily. "It was all the rage just after Vos fell, you know. Adopt an orphaned sparkling and save him from a life alone and without family."

Another careful cycling of vents, and Tracks continued. "I was developed enough to speak some, so when he asked my name, I was able to say 'Track'. I… think it was something different, but he declared Tracks a fine name, and I've carried it since."

"Airtrac," said a deep voice from the doors, startling all four of them.

Sideswipe's wasn't the only helm to whip around to look, though it was Ratchet that stood and growled threateningly.

Thundercracker held up his hands. "We didn't mean to interrupt."

"No," Starscream said, "In fact, I was directed here by Perceptor." He hooked a thumb at one wing and the Decepticon symbol on it. "Solvent. There's no need for these anymore."

"No, wait," Tracks said, standing from the stool. "You can't have known me. That would be insane. The odds-"

"Are good. Show him, Warp," Starscream said as he pulled his trine into the medbay instead of hovering around the door.

Sideswipe shared a glance with his twin, but looked back as Skywarp pulled the image display out and turned it on. "Seriously?" he asked. Because 'astronomical' seemed an underestimate to how likely any of this slag was.

"Please," scoffed Starscream. "Of all the insanity in my life, this is nothing."

"To you," Tracks snapped.

"Here!" Skywarp said and held out the display.

Thundercracker shook his helm. "I can't believe we didn't see it before."

"Bit wrapped up in our own stuff, I think," Skywarp murmured. "But yeah, now I see him and this image, it's kinda hard to believe we missed it."

Sideswipe slid off the med berth with Sunstreaker and stepped closer to Tracks to look. "Hey!" he said suddenly, snapping his fingers. "Tracks just said he remembers his carrier. You have that picture in there of Airtrac's carrier." At least that would be easier to prove than their own slag.

"I… That really does look like me as a sparkling," Tracks said, his hands floating close to covering his mouth as he stared with wide optics at the image of a blue sparkling with a red face sliding down a park slide.

"Just a klik," Skywarp said as he pulled the display cube close and toggled through the images. "Hah! Here it is. This was Whipwind."

Sideswipe surged forward as Tracks' knees gave out. Sunstreaker grumbled wordlessly over the bond, but he moved to Tracks' other side to help get him back on his feet. "Him, huh?"

"Yes! Oh, Primus!" Tracks sobbed behind his hands.

"Alright, enough of this," Ratchet said. "Sit him down before he falls down. Starscream, get over here. I have the solvent and some nanite gel to help your normal colors repopulate after."

Tracks was parked on the stool, and Skywarp followed, still holding the display so it could be seen. "I don’t… I… You _knew_ me?" Tracks asked, optics pleading as he looked up at Skywarp. "You knew my creators?"

"More me, and just your carrier," Thundercracker said as he took Ratchet's vacated stool. Sideswipe stepped back and nudged Sunstreaker back onto the berth they'd been sitting on before. "I met Whipwind at a park outside out usual area, and he struck up a conversation with me about the twins because they were wingless too."

"We never did get around to telling him they were adopted," Skywarp added, shuffling through the pictures for any other of Tracks or his carrier. "There was a… what's the word?" he asked, looking at Thundercracker.

"Stigma," Thundercracker supplied. "For a Seeker to have a wingless sparkling was considered a failure on the carrier's part. But for Whipwind, it was more than that. He'd had a fling in Iacon, and his mates never quite forgave him for getting sparked up with you."

"Golly, Thundercracker," Sideswipe said as he leaned back on his hands and let his feet swing. "Give it to him bluntly, why don't you?"

Thundercracker frowned. "They were there," he added.

"I can fly," Tracks said, his tone defensive.

"We aren't judging," Skywarp said and held out another picture of Tracks, this one of him holding a Seeker doll out to a tiny yellow Sunstreaker, who was reaching for it with a distressed look on his face.

"Were you teasing me with my own doll?" Sunstreaker demanded, and Sideswipe laughed. At least until Thundercracker reached into his subspace and pulled out that very doll.

"There were three," Thundercracker said. "Gifts to you from a sparklinghood friend of Warp's. Like the block Starscream stuck in his subspace and meant to leave for you to play with that day, I tucked this into my subspace while cleaning up, and then forgot it was there until after the Fall."

Sunstreaker took the ragged doll in careful hands. "Fuck," he breathed, and the bond pulsed in pain and longing.

"Are my real creators still alive?" Tracks asked, twisting around to look at Starscream. "Are they with the others at Darkmount?"

Starscream shook his helm, wing held carefully still as Ratchet worked the solvent carefully onto his Decepticon emblem. "No. Whipwind was dying when I last saw him. One of his mates was there at the rescue site outside the city. He'd brought Whipwind there, but had abandoned you and the twins at the park."

Tracks launched to his feet, rage lashing through the medbay. Skywarp scrambled back, and in the blink of an optic, the display was safely away. "Liar!"

"I'm not lying," Starscream said, his tone surprisingly mild. "Thundercracker stopped me from tearing your so-called sire apart right there in the med tent. He stood over Whipwind as his dying mate begged for his sparkling and said you and the twins were gone when he got there. Which is Pitslag. Whipwind was… odd, but he dearly loved you. It was for his sake too, and the unlikely chance of his survival, that Thundercracker and I took off to go look for our sparklings _and_ you instead of beating that sparkless glitch then and there."

Tracks shook his helm, his fists clenched at his sides, and perfect, fat, pretty tears running down his cheeks. "I…" He gave his helm a hard shake, spun around, and was out the medbay doors without another word.

 _We should maybe check on him later,_ Sunstreaker suggested, surprising Sideswipe, though he agreed.

 _Yeah. Frag what a mess all this is._ Then Sideswipe noticed that Skywarp had sidled close. He stood _just_ inside striking distance, lip caught between his teeth and wings low.

"Could we have a chance to fix things?" Skywarp asked, lower lip trembling a bit now that it wasn't being bit. "Just to prove ourselves. You know, make up for all the vorns having to pretend to fight?"

"Felt pretty damn real to us," Sunstreaker said as he shifted into a more protective position beside Sideswipe. Sideswipe merely swung his feet, helm tipped a little as he stared at Skywarp.

"I'm sure it felt real," Starscream said as he approached and nudged Skywarp toward Ratchet. There were two bare silver areas on his wings, shining with nanites, and vaguely emblem shaped. "It had to _look_ real. Could you even imagine what Megatron would have done had he found out?"

Sideswipe snorted. "Yeah." And he really did. Megatron was _crazy_. They all joked and laughed, but the mech was just insane. Gone. And he seemed to hate his Second in Command more than he hated Optimus Prime. It was all too easy to imagine how knowledge of the twins being the trine's sparklings could have been used against all of them. Of course, that did give Sideswipe an idea. "So." He grinned at Starscream, wondering briefly if they had been in the trine's care long enough to pick up personality traits. And if so, was that where Sideswipe got his deviousness from? "Want to end the war then so we can get on with life and try to give you three that chance you want?"

"Hold up, you menace," Ratchet called out. "You know good damn well that Optimus isn't going to let you do anything…" He paused in applying solvent to Skywarp's wing to search for the right word.

"Mean?" Sideswipe supplied with a smirk.

Ratchet narrowed his optics at him and went back to work. "Exactly. Though I was going to say lethal."

Starscream huffed and shook his helm. "If I knew how to end the war, I would have before now. Megatron is _unhinged_."

"We should get the other Seekers here on Earth. They'll follow their Winglord, and then if we help the Autobots, maybe we can win and go home," Skywarp said.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to convince Megatron to let me bring the others here?" Starscream asked, arms spreading. "He-" He paused. "He's not really as large an obstacle now…"

"Primus," Thundercracker sighed, and chuckled softly as he shook his helm.

Sideswipe wasn't sure what to think of that. On the one hand, more Seekers would be great _if_ they were really on the Autobots' side, but if they weren't that could be the thing that tipped the scales in the Decepticons' favor. "What if they've changed the space bridge codes?" he asked.

"Oh please," Starscream said, arms crossing and a smug look on his face. "I helped design and program that thing. I could hack into it in my recharge."

"Which I'm sure Prowl and Optimus would love to know," Ratchet interrupted, motioning for Thundercracker to come take Skywarp's place and have his Decepticon symbols removed.

"Wait!" Starscream reached out to snag the other Seeker's arm. "If we do this, it means contacting Cybertron. Leave your insignia for now."

"Frag me," Thundercracker grumbled, but Ratchet was already putting up the solvent, nodding agreement.

"It'll be here," the medic said. "But if you've got the start of a plan, then I suggest getting out of my medbay and pestering Prowl and Jazz with it. And I can tell you right now, Optimus will never approve anything that requires killing. So leave that out of your plans, and I don't mean just don't mention it. I mean don't even contemplate it."

Sideswipe arched an optic ridge as Starscream nodded, snagged Skywarp by the arm and headed for the door.

"Bye!" Skywarp called over his shoulder before the door shut behind the three Seekers.

"Ok then," Sideswipe said and stood up. "Guess if they figure out how to end the war for us, we'll have to give them a chance."

"My aft," Ratchet said, wiping his hands on a clean cloth. "You don't owe them anything. So they had a crisis of conscience and _finally_ decided to choose their kids over ambition and war. About fragging time!"

That… was a good point, but honestly, Sideswipe was just too damn tired. And so was Sunstreaker. Sideswipe stepped close, and before Ratchet figured out what he was going to do, he wrapped the medic up in a hug. "Thanks, Ratch."

"What'd I do?"

"Been there," Sunstreaker said. He wasn't about to hug Ratchet himself, but he gave the medic's upper arm a squeeze then peeled Sideswipe off him so they could go attempt to recharge before their afternoon patrol. They left Ratchet with pink cheeks and little grin on his face, and finally managed to get some rest when they collapsed into their berth.

~ | ~

Thundercracker cycled his vents, spark pulsing hard as he waited for the communication request to reach Cybertron. He was the _worst_ choice for this, but also -damn his reputation- the best. He wasn't any sort of actor, but he wasn't known as a prankster or traitor either. If any of the three of them could pull this off, it was Thundercracker. But slag it already, could Shockwave pick up before someone turned up in the Control Center of the _Victory_ , discovered the night shift -Thrust and Misfire- unconscious, and the defected former Command Trine at the consoles?

Oh yeah, and he had to hope that Megatron hadn't contacted Shockwave already himself to let the mech know about the disappearance of the trine.

Static fuzzed and the speakers gave a blat of sound, then Shockwave was there on the screen. " _Thundercracker? What is the meaning-_ "

"No time!" Thundercracker interrupted, hoping he was making his voice sound gasping and breathless enough. "Megatron's been hurt. Those fragging Autobots! They-" He cut himself off and shook his helm hard. "Never mind. There's no time for explanations. I've been ordered to contact you and have you send every last Seeker you can spare to Earth."

That single yellow optic blinked. " _This is highly unusual. Where is Soundwave?_ "

"With Megatron, of course!" Thundercracker snapped, glad that it seemed Shockwave didn't know the trine had left the Decepticons. "Look, Megatron's last order before he lost consciousness was to get the Seekers here. He wants us to strike the Autobots. Destroy them. They- For frag's sake, Shockwave! We got away this time, but we need more mechs!"

" _My drones_ -"

Thundercracker shook his helm. "Drones can't fly like Seekers, and Megatron didn't ask for drones."

Shockwave hesitated, and as he did, the signal flickered. Thundercracker tensed, hands going to the controls despite him being fully aware that it was Starscream, out of sight, helping the comm signal degrade.

"Shockwave!"

" _Of course,_ " Shockwave said. " _My apologies. This is just very unusual. I will have all available Seekers on the next possible bridge._ " He leaned forward over his own console and tapped at a few keys before looking off to the side. " _I've alerted Acid Storm, and the next bridge will be available in two point six hours. Where shall I direct them to go once they arrive?_ "

"Nowhere," Thundercracker answered. "I'll be there."

" _Just you?_ "

"Pits no! I'm not going out there alone!" Thundercracker snapped, then gasped and tried to look panicked as static began to fill the screen. "Slag. I'm losing the signal. "Just send them. I'll be there with our orders."

" _What of Sta_ -"

The line was cut with a flare of static, and Thundercracker winced even as he turned to look at Starscream. "Well?"

"Emmy-worthy, TC!" Skywarp snickered, bouncing on his feet and wings wobbling in mirth. Or maybe joy. It would be the first time he would be seeing his creators in years.

Starscream shook his helm as he made sure that the communications array was offline and their call was erased from the records. The last thing they needed was Soundwave or anyone else contacting Shockwave before the Seekers were through the bridge. "I _hope_ he bought it." He pushed back from the console and stepped over Misfire. "Now let's get out of here. Jazz pinged me, so they have Megatron."

Thundercracker shook his helm at that and wrapped an arm each around Skywarp and Starscream's waist so they could teleport back out. Jazz and his team would exit through the moon pool with their prize as Optimus insisted on capture, not kill- of course. Though the fact that he was allowing capture seemed enough to send Jazz and Prowl -and the rest of the Autobot officers- into a tizzy of excitement and planning.

Autobots were weird.

~ | ~

Starscream stood before the space bridge controls, trying to keep his wings from twitching and giving away his nervousness and anticipation. Behind him, hidden in the tree line waited Prime, the twins, and Prowl, safely out of sight until Starscream signaled them once he explained the situation to the arriving Seekers.

The sky finally split with thunder despite the clear, starlit night, and a whirling vortex ripped into being over the space bridge. It was hard to count, but that was a good number of Seekers. Starscream grinned. "You did well, Thundercracker." Blue wings perked, and Thundercracker actually preened a little before he caught himself. Skywarp giggled, but then he was distracted by the gate opening and his sire stepping out.

"Starscream," Acid Storm greeted with a nod, Seekers fanning out behind him.

"Acid Storm," Starscream replied, then winced as IceStorm squealed and tackled Skywarp.

"Bitlet!"

Starscream allowed himself to grin, then faced Acid Storm again. "We lied to get you all here," he stated bluntly. "I've struck a deal with Prime, and Megatron is currently in the Autobots' medbay."

"He's so grievously injured?" Acid Storm asked, wings flicking in agitation, though Starscream wasn't sure at which bit of news.

"Not at all," Starscream said, smirking despite trying not to, though it faded quickly. This wasn't one of his wild plans. He wasn't driving himself insane anymore. "He's been… erratic is too mild a term. He's crazy. Glitching. The medical team is going to try and find out why. Honestly, though, the real reason is that about a week ago, we left the Decepticons." He flicked a wing to draw attention to the blank space on it and watched many sets of red optics widen in shock.

"What… brought this on?" Acid Storm asked, glancing to the side to see Sunstorm helping pick IceStorm and Skywarp from the ground. "You are Winglord, so we will follow you, but you made an agreement with Megatron. To abandon it…"

Starscream waved a hand as Acid Storm trailed off. "I'm not betraying my word. Things have changed since we woke here on Earth. I am- was his Second in Command. I shouldn't have been beaten half to death more times than I can count for suggesting perfectly reasonable courses of action. Such as converting our own energon to ship to Cybertron instead of running petty raids on the humans' resources, always within easy reach of the Autobots, so he could wrestle with Prime while his troops suffered on starvation rations."

A ripple of conversation hummed through the Seekers. Starscream glanced out for a quick headcount and was pleased to see he had a full seven trines, including the Third Trine. It wasn't all the Seekers, but it was more than enough to force a surrender from Soundwave, especially with Megatron in forced stasis.

"In answer to what happened," Starscream said, and gestured toward the trees. "We decided things were becoming far too risky to keep pretending to attack our sparklings."

"Oh!" Ice Storm gasped, hands clapping over his mouth and optics wide as the Autobots showed themselves. Then he launched forward, tackling the twins to the ground with an arm around either of them and another squeal of delight.

Prime danced back, hands out like he wanted to help, but too shocked to manage more than gaping at the trio by his feet.

"The slag?!" Sunstreaker snarled.

"My grandbitlets!" IceStorm cried, raining kisses down upon two of the fiercest warriors the Autobots had ever had.

Starscream snickered and waved Acid Storm to follow him as he walked toward Prime. "Get used to it, my demon spawn, Grandsire is exuberant in his affection. Prime, allow me to present the lead Seeker of the Second Trine, Acid Storm."

"Greetings," Prime rumbled as he stepped around the pile of mechs. Sunstorm and Skywarp moved in to help everyone back up as he did. "I hope this is the beginning of the end of a war that has stretched on far too long."

"As do we all," Acid Storm replied, easily as diplomatic as Prime.

Starscream grinned a bit. "Prime is determined to end this with no further loss of life."

"I can only agree," Acid Storm said, his tone grave. He faced Starscream. "I'm glad you brought us here, regardless of circumstance. It has always happened, but of late, it's gotten worse." Starscream opened his mouth to ask, but Acid Storm went on after only the briefest pause. "Seekers have always gone missing. Grounders too, but it's happening more and more. At first, I suspected it was mechs simply tired of the war and slipping away to find survival or death on their own terms, but…" He shook his helm. "I suspect Shockwave is behind it, but trying to get close enough to look into his projects is too risky." His optics turned to the side where IceStorm stood, wings wobbling and bouncing on his feet as he clung to the twins' hands. "Are they really our Sunstreaker and Sideswipe?" he asked softly.

"They are," Thundercracker said, and Starscream nodded.

"Seven trines, Prime," Starscream said, facing the Autobot, then glancing down at Prowl, who was likely the one who would arrange it all. "Will there be room?"

Prowl nodded. "I am afraid it may be a tight fit, but there will be enough berths and energon to go around. Though the welding may take until morning."

Murmurs of 'energon' whispered through the ranks, and Starscream grinned. "They use the geothermic energy of their volcano. It's delicious."

Prime lifted his hand to gesture in the direction of the _Ark_. "If everyone is in agreement then, I'll let Starscream lead the flyers back to base, and once Prowl and I arrive, Starscream, I'd like for you to join us in contacting Soundwave. Ratchet just commed me with some very interesting information."

Starscream nodded, then with a flick of his wing, launched and for the first time in ages, led a strike of Seekers through the sky. All the better that they _weren't_ flying into combat this time.

~ | ~

Sunstreaker waited a couple days, practically sitting on Sideswipe while they waited to see if Ratchet really could clear the virus from Megatron's systems. Then they waited to see if the mech would revert, or if the damage was too extensive for him to recover and be a leader instead of a tyrant. The evidence was shown to Soundwave, who -as it was told by Jazz- visibly slumped in relief and admitted that he had known something was wrong, but he had been unable to pinpoint it without Megatron becoming aware of his presence in his mind. That would have been very bad for Soundwave.

Things were turning up roses all around for everyone except Shockwave. The twins had visited Ratchet, and he had ranted on endlessly about 'the great purple boob' being the most evil aftface of them all for not just creating that virus, but actually _using_ it on someone. That had been nothing compared to Starscream's tantrum when he found out that he'd endured _ages_ of being used as a punching bag due to a glitched bit of code- and 'no shut up, Prime! I'm going to kill that freak whether you like it or not!'

Now the twins stood before the Trine's door, and Sunstreaker had to ask. _You sure about this?_

 _I guess it could wait another few weeks until we take down the old Purple Boob,_ Sideswipe replied, making Sunstreaker roll his optics. He was going to thank Ratchet for that one by gifting explosives to Wheeljack.

 _Right. So I can watch you pace and bounce your leg when you finally sit down, and then pace some more?_ Sunstreaker reached out and hit the call button, and the moment Starscream opened the door, he pushed his way in, dragging Sideswipe with him. "Ok."

"Ok?" Skywarp asked, standing from where he'd been sitting on the edge of his berth next to IceStorm.

"What's ok?" Sunstorm asked, but the command trine- their caretakers understood.

Sideswipe yelped as Starscream dragged him into a tight hug. Sunstreaker was quickly yanked in by Skywarp, and then Thundercracker joined in too. He couldn't help but snicker a bit, especially as Sideswipe laughed and their bond rang with genuine happiness. Fine, their early lives had been slag, and the war sucked it, and no. No, it didn't _really_ fix or change anything, but there was something good about knowing that at one point in their lives, mechs had loved them.

"The war's not over," Starscream said softly, his grip tight on Sideswipe's side.

"Yeah, but about as good as," Sideswipe replied just before another body slammed into their impromptu group hug.

IceStorm trilled a happy note, and Sunstorm murmured some kind of thanks to Primus- it was hard for Sunstreaker to hear from the middle of the ball of happy Seekers. He shook his helm, but relaxed into it.

"Break our sparks, and I'll-"

"It'll never happen," Skywarp swore, interrupting Sunstreaker. He hooked his hand behind Sunstreaker's helm and pulled until he could plant a kiss on his cheek. "Not ever. We're family again."

"Good answer," Sideswipe said.

"Our foundlings," Starscream whispered, and pressed in harder.

Sunstreaker allowed it for a minute, but then all the heavy emotions radiating from them all started to become too much, and he squirmed until he was able to duck out of it. "Ok. Great. Two trines of sap. And you," he pointed a finger at his twin, not at all missing the tear Sideswipe brushed from his face. "You're just as bad. I'm gonna go shoot something." He turned for the door. "Probably get some energon first though." He left the invitation hanging, grinning as Skywarp beat him to the door.

"Starscream can make really good treats. You guys loved them. He once tried to make some out of the filtered energon you two needed, but it blew up."

There was a gasp and a clank from behind Sunstreaker, then Starscream's strident voice. "You _told_ him?! You _promised_!"

"I need this whole story," Sideswipe said with a snicker. Then his expression went serious. "No, really. We do need the _whole_ story. Not the 'convince us' one, but the little things like that."

"Then we'll tell it now while we eat," Thundercracker said, and grinned a bit as they all made their way into the corridor and headed to the common room. "Like Starscream first told Sideswipe. We went to get this book for him, and Skywarp dropped it. We were on the _ground_ , and I said, 'Come on, Warp! You’re never going to find it.' Because for Pit's sake, it was the _gutters_ , and he'd dropped this tiny slagging data chip from high over the buildings." Grey fingers pinched together to illustrate how small the data chip was.

Sunstreaker met Sideswipe's optics and grinned as Skywarp picked up the tale, adding his response. Then Starscream joined in, and then Sunstorm too, with his surprise comm call from Skywarp. Sideswipe laced his and Sunstreaker's fingers together for the briefest squeeze, and Sunstreaker returned it, letting the bond fill with affection and something that might have been a sense of peace.

 _Getting mushy on me?_ Sideswipe asked with a snicker.

 _Shut up, or I'll hide your block,_ Sunstreaker shot back, then laughed at the scandalized look he was given. Luckily, the laughter fit the story, and no one was any wiser to the internal conversation between the twins. Sunstreaker really did want to hear it, and once they reached the common room, he sat at a table, literally surrounded by family - _his family_ \- and couldn't help smile and feel that, for once, things were really going to be better.


End file.
